After blowing one on Wednesday night, the Stros took advantage of four Redbird errors and two JK doubles to beat the Cards junior varsity (no Rolen, Renteria, or Walker) 8-3 on Thursday night in St. Louis.
The win allowed the the Stros to remain two games behind the Wild Card playoff-leading Giants, who beat the Brew Crew again. The other two primary competitors in the Wild Card race — the Cubs and the Marlins — also won, so the contenders are all bearing down as the race hits the home stretch.
In this game, the Stros threw their AAA pitching staff at the Cards and it was good enough to secure the win. Stros starter Backe was mediocre over four innings, but at least did not allow matters to get out of hand while the Stros built their lead. Reliever Harville was phenomenal in bailing Backe out of a jam, and Qualls, Wheeler, and Miceli all did workmanlike jobs in keeping the Redbirds under wraps for the final five frames. Given the Cards’ errors, the Stros needed only 8 hits to generate their 8 runs, four of which came home on Kent’s doubles and another on Mike Lamb‘s solo yak.
The Stros return to the Juice Box for a weekender with the Brew Crew as Roy O and the Brewers’ ace Ben Sheets match up for first game on Friday night. After three with the Brewers, the Stros then take off to San Francisco on Sunday evening for the key series of the stretch run with the Giants.